The pictures on the MP website 😱

Hello and happy Monday!

I've been slacking on my daily emails but I am finally looking at a week with no travel and no major social events.

Last week I travelled to Ireland for the launch of myself and Sinead's line with MyProtein, which is a brand I have worked with for 6 years!

This has been in talks for a long long time, but we were finally able to shoot the campaign in the middle of June.

I spoke a lot in May/June on my emails and socials about how I wasn't willing to diet down for a photoshoot.

If anything I did the complete opposite.

I left Bali (biz class so loads of food and drink), landed home to a weekend with my family (loads of food and drink), then I went to Paris (loads of wine and cheese), and then I went to Portugal for a month (loads of green wine, bread and Lays).

I felt like cr*p but I knew it was only temporary. I actually think it is better for my mental health not to resist the environment I am in, and just lean into it.

I could feel my clothes getting smaller and internally I felt huge but when I looked at myself objectively, I knew I hadn't changed that much.

I journaled every day about how I felt and drilled down on questions like "so what if I put on weight?"

Years of posting about my body and acknowledging any physical changes week-to-week means I still have thoughts like that.

But I've a bit more life under my belt now to realise that nobody actually cares if you put on weight.

Anyway, I think a lot of you signed up to the email list today because you saw that I looked quite different in the selfie I posted this morning, compared to the website pictures that were taken in June.

Reasons there is a difference in the pictures:

1. Selfies are always more flattering because you naturally contort your body into a flattering angle (well I do anyway!).

On the left my hips are pushed back and legs are open. On the right, that was just one of hundreds of shots of me just moving.

2. Lenses make a huge difference in a picture. I remember I learnt this a few years ago when somebody took a pic on the iPhone at the same time as the professional shot and I looked way bigger on the professional shot.

I checked with a photographer once and they said that the iPhone is probably closer to what we look like in real life. But even at that, do you ever notice that you change shape a bit when you switch to portrait mode? That's because it is a different size lens.

3. I have actually lost weight. I will do an email with more detail on the specifics during the week, but I cut out all the green wine and bread with every meal and I just went back to a similar shape to what I was before I left Bali.

I have noticed it in myself but I decided not to point it on on Instagram, but people are asking questions now. I could use these two pics and sell you my program but I could actually save you a few quid and just let you know that if you do have wine and bread on top of all your usual food, without any of the training that you love, you will probably gain a bit of weight.

And remember - that's ok.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhan "Go with the flow" O'Hagan